UK must respond as prospect of transatlantic trade war looms large

It is laughably misnamed – but there is nothing funny about Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act if you are from outside the United States. The act, signed into law in August last year, has absolutely nothing to do with tackling the cost of living crisis. Rather, it is a gigantic piece of pump-priming, a $369bn package dangling generous subsidies and incentives to stimulate the take-up and roll-out of green energy across the US. It is specifically aimed at encouraging more manufacturing of electric vehicles, and the batteries that power them, in the United States. Businesses, particularly those involved in making…